Tic Tac pocket survival kit – what would you include?

[Roger Caffin]

Just out of curiosity:
For how many years have you carried the mirror and the whistle?
How often have you used either one in that time?

Cheers

[Jasper O]

I’ve purchased fire insurance for my house for 25 years – my house has never burned down.

Every car I buy has airbags, even though I tell the dealer I’ve never needed them.

[Murali C]

made me laugh – that was a funny retort:-)

[John S.]

Poo pooing a hikers safety gear is bad karma.

[Kevin Babione]

A new restaurant just opened named “Karma”.  There’s no menu…You just get what you deserve ;)

[Matthew / BPL]

I have performed some editing in this thread, removing what could potentially be triggering comments for some people. None of the removed material was posted out of malice or anything.

[Matthew / BPL]

For how many years have you carried the mirror and the whistle?
How often have you used either one in that time?

I agree with Jasper’s response to this and I’ll add that I have used a whistle several times while hiking. It’s never been in an emergency but whistles are useful when you want to get the attention of a hiking partner that is hundreds of yards away.

[Roger Caffin]

Just out of curiosity:
For how many years have you carried the mirror and the whistle?
How often have you used either one in that time?
In point of fact, that was a genuine question!
There is nothing in that posting which was poo-pooing anyone, nor was there any insult. I asked a question.

By way of further explanation: mirrors are of very little use in the Australian bush because of the forest cover. For the same reason, the sound of whistles do not travel very far: they get muffled. But experiences in other places may well be different. So, I asked.

Cheers

[John S.]

Roger, my comment was related to what was deleted by Matthew K. moderation.

[Monte Masterson]

” of very little use in the Australian bush because of the forest cover”.

Shows what I know about the physical geography of Oz. I thought once you got more than 150 kilometers inland from the east coast and south of the tropical areas around Darwin it was mostly semi-arid to arid. Never pictured it as thick canopy to where you can’t even get a mirror flash through to a passing airplane.

Signal mirrors have been an essential mainstay of survival kits since forever. I’ve seen some small mirrors glued to the outside Tic Tac kits. They aren’t the breakable glass kind though. Mirror flashes can be seen for over 100 miles in the right conditions. A popular signal mirror these days is the StarFlash with the hole in the middle. Measures 1.5″ X 2″ and weighs about 12 g. The short 1 minute video link below (bottom) shows how it’s used to aim at potential SAR.

 

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=survival+mirrors&docid=607998581376437040&mid=3F77E4D098917411A9D83F77E4D098917411A9D8&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

[Roger Caffin]

To be sure, once you get well inland, into what we call ‘the outback’, it can be a different story. Middle of Australia and you have the desert, and a very nice Larapinta Trail (done some years ago).

But most bushwalkers (our term) live near the East coast, and parts of that can be very heavily tree-covered, or at least scrub-covered.

Which may explain our preference for having morning tea and lunch on the edge of a rocky (sandstone) scarp.

 

Cheers

 

[David Thomas]

” the Australian bush because of the forest cover”
I know this to be false because I saw in a documentary that all of Australia is arid and open country:

Well, okay, it was a movie starring an American and a Brit, but still . . . .

In 48 years of hiking and backpacking trips I have used a mirror and flagged down a passing 747 exactly, hmmm, zero times.  But a tiny mirror has been handy a few times to deal with a splinter in my cheek (either type), checking my cheeks for sunburn or ticks, and explaining why no one cars were picking me up while hitch-hiking (dunking my head in a stream fixed that).

[jscott]

Nice hat, Roger! (says the pot to the kettle, while wearing a Sunday Afternoon dork hat).

I don’t know how ‘Stralians translate that phrase…(“says the burnt biscuit to the barbie”…?).

[Dave @ Oware]

Have to be pretty thick to not flash a mirror thru?

Had an employee who did helicopter logging in Alaska. He described very heavy timber, yet the way they signaled where to be picked up each day was with a mirror. And the pilots gave them a hard time if they flashed more than once.

Radio, lunch, Deet and a 44 special tucked in his hip pocket rounded out his survival gear.

[Monte Masterson]

David, I think only UPS flies 747’s nowadays and they won’t even stop to provide you any help. It’s all business with them. They’re a cold corporate entity that will just let you die out there in the wilderness.

[jscott]

Southwest lands passenger jets in the John Muir wilderness and elsewhere if they detect a mirror flash. Often, it turns out to be some kid playing around. It’s hard to taxi on the terrain around 1000 island lake…of course, it’s a moot point once you’ve crashed into Ritter trying to land for a rescue…

[David Thomas]

Monte, lots of flavors of 747s still coming through ANC. 
It’s how your laptop gets quickly from Shanghai where they’re assembled to SEA, ORD, LAX, LGA, etc.  Stopping in Anchorage lets them take on fuel (the laptops don’t care that it isn’t a non-stop flight) and to trans-ship between planes.

I feel pretty small in a twin-prop commuter plane looking level across at the lug nuts on their tires.

[Roger Caffin]

Have to be pretty thick to not flash a mirror thru?
Yup!

It can be quite thick.
Can be a bit dim inside some of the forest too.

Cheers

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